Yay! We Were Featured!

Last friday Birgit and me were featured on Crafts Missus D! How exciting! Click here to read the interview.

Sending a big "thank you" and lots of smiles to Kathleen of Craft Missus D! =)

Challenging Shots – Dog and Toddler Taking Over The Set

Long time no post! What happened? Well, weather is nice and work spirits are high (not so high for Birgit as she preparing for exams). I've been a busy bee though. During the last week I made some of my favorite bags (oh, how much I love to make them!). I can make one bag a day. If my dog would require my attention I could make two. No way to blame him though. He is just too cute and lovely. I mean, could you mad at a doggie which is interested in dog magazines:

But back to bags! After I made some last week Birgit and me went to our parents' place for the weekend. My parents have a lovely garden and I hoped for nice weather so I could take photos oft the bags in their garden. Friday and saturday sucked. The weather wasn't really bad but no proper sunshine.  I prefer sunshine because the light and atmosphere are a lot more relaxing. Sunday compensated though. For lunch our aunt and cousin with his girlfriend and baby son were invited for lunch. We had a lovely BBQ and went from lunch to coffee and spent all afternoon in the garden. 

After lunch I wanted to take the photos. Some years ago our dad built a little bridge over the "trench" in our garden. Why we have a trench in our garden? Don't ask! Endless story! Anyways, we have a cute little bridge surrounded by trees. The trees filter the light and create a lovely atmosphere. I wanted Birgit to sit on the bridge and just put the bag next to her. So far, so good. Somehow my dog Edmund like the scene and decided to join Birgit.

Well, first I didn't mind since it looked funny and my bags are meant to be fun so a cute couldn't hurt. I took some shots to adjust the settings ..... 

.....then Edmund really seemed to relax ......... and joyfully licked (a chewed!) his "private parts"

Our giggling on the bridge caught the interest of my cousin's one-year old son. He just learned to walk came over to the bridge and kept Birgit busy....

... and apparently liked my bag so much that he tried to steal it:

I gave in to the fun and we played together. The photo session was postponed to later that afternoon. I'm quite happy with the result and hope to start listing the bags some time during this week. 

My Italian Escape

Ciao!

Since monday evening I'm in Bologna/Italy. My boyfriend lives here so I come down here every now and then. Actually I wanted to write this post some days ago but I guess the lovely sunshine kept me from writing.

My trip started with a self initiated thrill at the airport. As I had to kill four hours at Frankfurt Airport I wanted to work on some of my crochet flower appliques. The yarn should not be problem to get through security check. I wasn't sure about the crochet hook though. So I didn't pack my favorite hook (in case they wouldn't let me take in on board). Instead I packed a different one, which I could buy again easily (in contrast to my favorite hook, which I found in my grandma's old sewing basket). Last, but not least I had to pack a pair scissors. Here I was very sure I am not allowed to take these through security check. I considered my options. Tearing the yarn was not option as I use cotton twist, which just cannot be torn. I searched my room for a cheap pair of scissors, which could be discarded in the worst case. But how to get them through security check? I could put them in my bag openly and then point out how harmless they are and that I could have done a lot more damage with my door key. My experience told me discussions are daunting and often meant to lose and should be avoided in the first place. So I went though my hand luggage to find a spot to place the scissors to maybe hide them (although I was sure they'd be detected when my stuff was scanned). I decided to place them in the back pocket of Moleskine journal. If they'd be found I could still I forgot to take them out. The journal itself is wrapped in a knitted sleeve I made some time ago to prevent it from looking worn. It's no master piece, but I do like it:

With the scissors packed into back of journal, the journal wrapped into the knitted sleeve and the sleeved stuffed into my overloaded hand luggage I approached the security check and handed over my stuff to be scanned. And of course it happened, what was supposed to happen (anything else would have worried me). The lady, who scanned my stuff detected the scissors. She called her boss, an older guy. He came over to me and told me there are scissors somewhere in my bag. I put on my most innocent face and asked him "oh really? where are they?". So I opened my bag and let me look for them. I looked into the little pouch with my pens, checked my makeup pouch, shuffled everything upside down and did not find the scissors. I suggest to scan the bag again (being cooperative is always a good sign of innocence, isn't it). He scanned my bag again and triumphantly declared he found the scissors. So he opened my bag again I tried to find the spot where he just saw the scissors on the screen.... but he did not find them. He just did not open knitted sleeve (and I felt no urge to suggest that). I'm not even sure whether he realized that this is pocket. I believe, he took it as a weird cushion. So he told me to pack up my stuff and catch my flight. They are small scissors after all. Yay! I may keep my scissors. I do look harmless enough to have scissors with me! Success! I really used the time at Frankfurt Airport to get busy. This is what my little work space looked like: 

When I finally arrived in Bologna I was stunned by the temperature. After weeks (which are feeling like years) of horrible weather I completely forgot about the fact that there might be different conditions in different areas. My first thought was that I did not really pack for temperatures above 20°C. It turned out that I wouldn't really need many summer clothes. No, the weather did change to "german conditions", but I found myself with a couple of t-shirts and a thin trousers well dressed. Most time of my stay I occupied the garden. What a lovely place to work on appliques, read or just surf the internet! 

Today was different though. After breakfast Francesco (my boyfriend) suggest to have a walk in the city center. I found this very odd since he avoids it whenever he can. I'm happy about the suggestion though. I had a lovely day and actually the chance to take one of my handmade purses for a walk. We went to the city center by bus and then walked around a little. I was strong enough not to enter this cute little fabric shop we passed by. Then we walked to my most favorite shop. A shop of which I don't know the name. It is a boutique of dog accessories. Thus it is heaven for me. Don't get me wrong. My dog does not run around fancily dressed. Though I do like to get him fun toys, unique leashes, comfy beds and stylish transport boxes. My dog is still a dog, but a dog with his very own style. This time I didn't buy any toys though. My poor dog had an accident some days ago and his paw got squeezed and bruised and a claw got torn out. So I just bought some fun snacks to comfort him (or rather to comfort me and calm my bad conscience). He is looking pretty pathetic, isn't he: 

After the stop at the dog boutique we walked on to my favorite ice cream place. I believe it is called "Stefino". I love, love, love their ice cream. I apologize for the bad photos. I took them with my phone and its camera isn't helpful at all. 

Finally, we walked to the street market. Actually, we didn't want to go there but somehow we ended up strolling through it. Nice clothes, nice shoes but I didn't lose myself... until I came across a little booth with fabric. I didn't spend a fortune (I had the weight of my luggage in mind). So I just bought one meter of blue/white checkered fabric. I think I'll just for lining small purses. 

Well, I believe that is it. I didn't get anything done today, but had a great day anyways. 

Ciao!

The Sock Travels London and Kathrin Sews Dewdrop Handbags

I'm actually back from London. The volcano decided not release more ash until I was back home. Pity. I wouldn't have minded some more days in London.

Anyways, we (my mum, my little cousin, the sock and me) had a great time. Rain only hit us on our last day so most of the time we actually had dry, but hurting feet. The sock's feet (?) were fine though. It only lost one eye. Oh, I didn't really say what "the sock" is all about!

Actually, it is pretty simple:

I borrowed a travel backpack from a friend. The night before we left I started to pack and went through all pockets of the backpack. In one tiny pocket I found a single sock. I showed it to Birgit and she suggested I should take the sock with me (since the sock was in the backpack we assumed it wanted to travel to London, too). Birgit handed me two plastic eyes and I attached them to the sock and we also added a little hat (a respirator). So this is what it looked like (I know, bad photo quality):

I took the time to make a "home" for the sock: a little paper bag. No big effort. I just printed "Sock Gone Wild" on a little paper bag:

I did my very best to take as many photos as possible with the sock. At times I felt a little weird standing in a crowd posing with the sock on my hand. The sock got around a lot: 

 

Unfortunately it lost one eye. I believe the eye got lost at Heathrow airport when I searched my handbag for my ID card. 

Even though I was sad to leave London, I looked forward to start sewing again. Since my sewing machine is still waiting to be fixed, Birgit gave me her old GDR sewing machine (which is just as good as a new one). As pointed out in the previous post, I altered the pattern of the reversible bag. Now it is about twice as big and with longer straps. This is the result: 

My next sewing project was real fun. I came across http://www.keykaloupatterns.com/ and instantly fell in love with the Dewdrop Handbags. I made two bags. The first one looks kinda out of shape. I'm more happy with the second one. Still, the seams are not sewn tidily. I'm still working on that. Anyways, I do love them and will make more of them!